All Collectively Now
Curraghmore Property, Co. Waterford, Eire
July thirty first – August third, 2025
Now in its sixth yr, All Collectively Now has change into an Irish establishment that gives its revellers a wanted respite from the norm.
There was a gap within the floor, emitting a bizarre crimson gentle. Its opening was sufficiently large for an grownup man to wriggle via, so, this being the sun-baked, tipsy Saturday afternoon of a music competition, I instantly fell to my fingers and knees and started to crawl via the filth. My associate dutifully adopted. We had been quickly giddy inside this weird-lit cave, calling out to passing strangers whose ft we might see however who, crucially, couldn’t see us. They had been confused by the fairy songs we sang, and by the small bits of bark we threw at their shins. When, ultimately, they found our excitable, wide-eyed faces on this cavern underground, they smiled and waved and we smiled and waved proper again. We had been adults taking part in like kids within the filth, and we had been all very completely happy for it.
The outlet was in The Final Metropolis, All Collectively Now’s little plot of near-dystopia. A small area devoted to the theme of societal and ecological collapse, it is part of the competition that units itself in a nearish future through which mankind has descended right into a form of Mad Max actuality, the place scrap steel is coveted and the one factor left for us to do is to cavort within the ruins of the Previous. The realm is a little bit of enjoyable, however, on a macabre degree, the rationale its theme lands might be as a result of there may be, genuinely, a way of cataclysm on the air as of late. The climate has gone unusual round us, sure civil liberties have been eroded with exceptional pace, meals and shelter have change into more and more tough to afford, and, in a really literal means, societies at the moment are being purposefully obliterated not too far-off from the place we stand. It’s absurd, provided that brutally actual context, to spend a weekend dancing round a subject in Eire, however additionally it is totally essential.
All Collectively Now, as with just about any cultural occasion in Eire as of late, was marked by an amazing assist for Palestine, from performers and punters each. Artists on stage delivered speeches and led chants. Talks and panels had been held and conversations had been had. Professional-Palestinian t-shirts and keffiyehs had been offered and worn proudly. Cash was raised for various Palestinian causes. Flags had been waved and voices had been raised. The Irish dedication to Palestinian freedom stays unwavering, and it was on show all through Curraghmore Property final weekend. However, undeniably, there’s a sense now of weariness. The violence has been too intense and too seen for too lengthy. Individuals have marched on too many protests. Artists have spoken out on too many phases. Activists have jumped via too many hoops to remain throughout the bounds of the regulation. However nonetheless the violence by no means stops, almost two years after this lengthy wave began. Persons are screaming at a system that gained’t hear, and, although the Irish individuals is not going to surrender on the Palestinians, the exhaustion of it, the ache of seeing ravenous kids on the information day-after-day, is palpable now. When the folks artist Lisa O’Neill, throughout her major stage set on Friday night, devoted a music to the individuals of Palestine, it was greeted sombrely. Not with apathy, however with mourning. Individuals will proceed to mobilise for Palestine in Eire and elsewhere, however it’s more and more tiring to take action.
You will need to discover pleasure in days similar to these. It could appear a banal factor to say, and it might even make us really feel responsible, however it’s the solely strategy to metal ourselves towards the miseries of our time. All Collectively Now, as ever, was a weekend for pleasure, and even the Irish climate held for us, apart from just a few showers on the Sunday evening and a stormy begin to the Monday morning, which made the exit extra anxious than is right. However, for more often than not, the solar shone and the rain stayed away, that means the music and mischief was unencumbered by the gray sideways drizzle typical of the island.
Solely a decade in the past, the notion {that a} main music competition could be dominated by Irish artists of worldwide reputation would have appeared fanciful, however the nation has change into fiercely modern of late. Everybody in London appears now to drink Guinness, Paul Mescal carrying GAA shorts represents the peak of male vogue, and two All Collectively Now headliners, Fontaines D.C. and CMAT, appear to be among the many most celebrated artists round in the mean time. It’s hanging that the third headliner, Sunday evening’s Nelly Furtado, by far felt just like the odd one out on the high of the billing, and, in reality, it was solely John Grant of the non-Irish cohort that I actually fell in love with over the weekend. Wearing shorts, shades, and a keytar wrapped round his neck, Grant is maybe the best uncool individual alive; a person who seems to be a bit like a rural American who votes Trump, however who’s, truly, a homosexual polyglot with a wickedly sharp sense of humour, eager mind, and an amazing ability for making soiled dance tunes. Books are to not be judged by their covers, and all that.
As for the Irish, they placed on a good displaying all through the weekend. Villagers, led by the only fixed member Conor O’Brien, appeared once more on the competition, this time in a pared-down kind through which O’Brien was joined solely by one bandmate who performed the keys. O’Brien, opposite to his candy, relaxed method, is clearly a frenetic sort in relation to reinventing his band, perpetually swapping members out and in with each tour and rewriting his personal songs to swimsuit no matter recent form the band has taken. This gentler model of Villagers was ideally suited to a sunny afternoon set, after which a more moderen face on the Irish scene carried out. Muireann Bradley is a younger Donegal girl born solely in 2006 however bearing a soul a couple of century older. A rustic blues singer with a prodigious knack for the guitar, her whiskey-scented efficiency felt prefer it got here to us from one other time and place altogether, and it was solely her modest addresses to the gang between songs that broke the fiction that we had been listening to a weathered troubadour. Her gig was great.
Niamh Bury, one other younger Irish folks artist, carried out superbly on a stage suitably surrounded by bushes and lit by the sunshine, and the previous Irish custom of story-telling was alive and effectively on the Seanoíche tent, the place individuals got here up on stage to spin some yarns. Podcaster Blindboy Boatclub spent the primary half-hour of his efficiency studying considered one of his brief tales, through which the protagonist speaks of peeling off his personal pores and skin to drape a stray canine in, and it was very odd, and really humorous, and really Irish. However not each Irish artist was a mild, folksy storyteller. Berlin-based producer Sally C placed on a few soiled DJ units on the Sunday evening, first on the Mixmag stage and in a while the bigger, fire-spitting Arcadia. It’s considered one of Eire’s nice ironies: good digital music artists are produced right here, however too lots of them are pressured to make their careers elsewhere, as a result of, leaving apart music festivals and some remaining golf equipment, there are feck-all locations for them to hone their craft. It’s a surprise what kind of dance music may very well be produced in Eire if the state facilitated the tradition a bit, however that may be a query for an additional article. Sally C, and a bunch of DJs whose names I’ll by no means know, had me dancing over the weekend.
All Collectively Now has come and gone for an additional yr, and it was a sort weekend with principally good, sunny climate—though the Monday morning exit was dicey with the wind and showers. It was a beautiful break from the onerous norm, an excuse to change off, act foolish, and chase bizarre crimson lights into holes within the floor. It could sound silly, however that stupidity is what can maintain us going via the bleakness of the instances.
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All Collectively Now: Net | Instagram | Fb | YouTube
All phrases by Tiernan Cannon
Pictures by Aron Cahill and Aiesha Wong equipped
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